Rising Temps Will Stunt Rainforests

In case you think the climate naysayers trotting out their tired 10-year-old studies are in the forefront of science — this is for you. Just one example of the overwhelming quantity and quality of science being published on the many facets of climate change. A new study in the prestigious journal Nature finds that global warming could cut the rate at which trees in tropical rainforests grow by as much as half. This is based on more than two decades' worth of data from forests in Panama and Malaysia. The effect has so far been largely overlooked by climate modellers, and it could severely erode or even remove the ability of tropical rainforests to remove carbon dioxide from the air. Rising temperatures have reduced growth rates by up to 50% in the two rainforests, both of which experienced climate warming above the world average over the past few decades. If other rainforests follow suit, the pristine Amazon could conceivably stop storing as much carbon. This would be bad for all of us, no matter where we live. JULIA WHITTY